When transporting a person in a wheelchair, it is usually necessary to transport both the person and the wheelchair, such that when the destination is reached, the person can use his own wheelchair and does not rely on the presence of another wheelchair at the destination. There are basically two ways in which one can transport a disabled person and his wheelchair. The first one is where the person occupies a seat in the transport vehicle and the wheelchair is transported separately, e.g. in the boot of the vehicle. Hereby, the wheelchair may be folded, but would still occupy a lot of space in the vehicle which cannot be used for transporting other people, luggage or goods. Furthermore, the problem of helping the disabled person out of his wheelchair and into a normal passenger seat may be hard to overcome, especially if an assisting person is not able to lift the disabled person.
The second manner in which one can transport both the disabled person and his wheelchair, is by transporting the person in his wheelchair. Hereby, the person in a wheelchair can be assisted to enter the vehicle by means of e.g. a ramp or small elevator. The wheelchair is subsequently secured to the vehicle and the disabled person himself is secured into his wheelchair. It is clear that for this way of transporting disabled people, the problems of the first way are circumvented, i.e. the wheelchair does not occupy as much extra space, and the disabled person does not need to be lifted out of his wheelchair into a passenger seat. The present invention relates to the second manner of transport.
However, transporting the disabled person in his wheelchair gives rise to other problems. Firstly, there needs to be enough space in the vehicle to accommodate the person in his wheelchair. This means that at least some space in the vehicle is not occupied by a normal passenger seat. One solution to this problem is to simply remove one or more passenger seats from the vehicle, thereby creating the necessary space for the wheelchair. However, this means that these passenger seats are lost during the whole trip. If, for instance, the trip involves transporting one or more disabled people to the hospital and transporting one or more able people from the hospital to their homes, the able people may not occupy the space used for transporting the disabled people and multiple trips may be necessary. To overcome this, it is possible to install foldable passenger seats in the vehicle. These seats can accommodate able people for transport, and may be folded up, thereby giving room to disabled people in a wheelchair.
European patent EP 1 680 302 discloses and claims a device constructed as a fold-in, swing aside chair, also called folding chair or fold-up chair, for placement onto a special applied floor in transport vehicles, such as mini busses, city busses, touring cars, ambulances, trains, trams, airplanes and such, wherein in its length the back support of the foldup chair is supplied with a head support, wherein the back support can be folded down hingeably over the seat element to a practically horizontal position, wherein in the normal sitting position the chair shape is maintained by locks, wherein the fold-up chair is foldable over two mutual perpendicular not in the same horizontal plane situated axis of rotation into a suitable vertical position of the whole fold-up chair, wherein the first axis of rotation is situated between the back support and the seat element and the second axis of rotation is situated eccentrically lengthwise beneath the seat element, wherein blocking is done around the mentioned first axis of rotation by means of a first locking mechanism and around the mentioned second axis of rotation by means of a second locking mechanism, wherein in the mentioned extended vertical position the fold-up chair is spring loaded, wherein the foot support of the fold-up chair is constructed as rigid vertical beams hingeably mounted to the seat element, wherein the material of the supporting framework of the dismountable fold-up chair is a strong rigid material, whereby in the vertical position the fold-up chair due to its rotation about the second axis is in a lowered position near the vehicles bottom, so that it is coupled torsionally stiff around the second axis and it is also detachable from the horizontal surface of the floor plate attached to the bottom plate of the transport vehicle. A safety-belt system can be attached to the seat.
Placing one or more chairs such as disclosed in European patent EP 1 680 302 in a vehicle can solve the problem of transporting both able and disabled people at the same time, whereby in subsequent trips, when the number of able and/or disabled people changes, there is no need for removing or adding a passenger seat from or to the vehicle: a seat can simply be folded or unfolded depending on whether the seating space is used by a disabled or an able person, respectively. However, there remains the problem of securing the able and/or disabled passenger.
Transporting both able people and people in a wheelchair using the same vehicle poses serious difficulties in securing the passengers. Able people can sit down in a chair and be secured with a safety-belt system e.g. a three-point safety-belt system. When transporting people in a wheelchair, care has to be taken to secure both the wheelchair and the person sitting in it using a wheelchair-fastening system and a safety-belt system respectively. Since people in a wheelchair usually sit lower to the ground then people sitting a vehicle chair or passenger seat, and since a wheelchair is usually wider than a vehicle seat, it is not always possible to accommodate both able and disabled people with the same securement system. European patent EP 1 680 302 does not disclose a safety-belt system which can be used both when the seat is in a folded and in an unfolded position. Furthermore, employing a safety-belt system which can be used by both able and disabled passengers improves the equality and/or feeling of equality between able and disabled passengers.
European patent EP 1 701 860 discloses and claims a device constructed as floor plate or floor and which consists of rail section and floor section parts and is fastened on the bottom plate of transport vehicles, such as vehicles with load floors for conversion to mini busses, according to the strict rules applicable for passenger transport up to 8 people, ambulances, trains, busses, trams, airplanes and such, in which on the mentioned floor plate or floor chairs/seats and wheelchairs are attachable, in which the mentioned fastening to the bottom plate can be done in a mechanical as well as a chemical way, in which the rail and floor section parts are applied in a longitudinal direction of the transport vehicle, in which the mentioned chairs/seats can be coupled, mostly without tools in a so called chair track on the mentioned rail section parts, wherein on each chair-track the chairs/seats can be coupled to a single rail section part, in which the mentioned rail section part has a continuous narrow slit on the upper side to internally form a mechanical strong U-shape with beveled flanges, in which the material of the rail- and floor section parts is a rigid and ductile material with a relatively high bending and shear strength, in which the mentioned U-shape of the mentioned rail section part is provided with relatively thick sides to absorb extreme intermittent load, in which rail and floor section parts are mechanically interlockable and the floor can be fastened at the top side of the corrugated section of the bottom plate of the transport vehicle, whereby the beveled flanges are provided with a serration with a short pitch on the inside for form-matching receipt of special T-headed bolts for fastening the base plates of the chairs/seats, in which fastening or locking of the mentioned T-headed bolt in the floor is done with an instrument provided with a lever, in which in the floor section parts special coverable recesses are applied in a suitable pattern for retractors with ratchet construction and common retractors of securing belts for fastening wheelchairs.
Combining the inventions disclosed in European patent applications EP 1 680 302 and EP 1 701 860 leads to system for transporting both able and disabled people without the necessity of removing seats. However, one of the shortcomings of such a system would be that two separate safety systems are needed at every place where both able and disabled people are meant to be seated. This means that more material is used, leading to extra costs. In particular, two different safety belts are needed, one of which—the one intended for a person in a wheelchair—cannot be easily integrated into the vehicle wall or into the fold-up chair, since the folded chair may obstruct a comfortable and safe use of such a safety-belt system. Furthermore, an extra safety belt may be easily lost or stolen and/or may become dirty during storage, which could lead to undesired stains on passenger's clothes.
Prior art documents do not seem to disclose safety-belt systems which, in combination with easily handled fold-up chairs, can safely secure both able and disabled persons and which are completely integrated into the vehicle or vehicle chairs, thereby improving comfort of the passenger, improving ease of use, and reducing the material used. Therefore, there remains a need in the art for an improved, safety-ensuring device which can be used by both able and disabled people in a transport vehicle. The present invention aims to disclose an improved device which solves at least some of the abovementioned problems. Hereby, the device comprises a rigid arm which is used in combination with a safety-belt system, e.g. a three-point safety belt system, whereby the rigid arm provides a fixed attachment point around shoulder height for the safety belt system. This rigid arm is hingeably attached to the vehicle or to the foot support to which also a fold-up chair may be mounted and can be turned into the desired position. When the chair is unfolded, the rigid arm may be fixed into an essentially upright position. When the chair is folded, the rigid arm can be turned in a position which is tilted with respect to the vehicle wall. Thereby, the position of the attachment point at shoulder height can be lowered and further away from the vehicle wall, such a position being more comfortable and secure when the same safety belt is used to secure a person in a wheelchair which is usually in a seating position lower to the vehicle floor and further away from the vehicle wall than an person sitting in an unfolded passenger seat.